Not For the World
by MetaBlade
Summary: Silly, pointless fluff in which Luigi laments being shorter than Daisy and the two of them decorate a Christmas tree together. (Oneshot; LuigiXDaisy.)


**A/N: A short, plotless piece of fluff with a bit of hurt/comfort mixed in. And yes, it's a Christmas story. Yes, I know it's only October. I couldn't think of a good setting for this idea, so I just made it a Christmas setting.**

**Enjoy!**

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'Why are all the princesses around here so _tall?'_ Luigi grumbled under his breath as he reached up to put a decoration on the Christmas tree that was at least three feet taller than him.

Daisy snorted out a laugh. After observing his struggle for a moment, she took the decoration and hung it on the tree herself - feeling proud of herself for being kind enough not to gloat. She and Luigi were at his house (or rather, the house he shared with Mario), and had decided to get a head start on the festivities by putting up the tree tonight. The room was dark except for a few candles, and an old radio in the corner was buzzing out Christmas songs, loud enough to provide atmosphere but quiet enough to not be irritating.

'We're not _that_ tall,' she replied, referring to herself and her princess friend Peach.

Luigi shook his head exasperatedly. 'Well, you're both taller than me - and Mario!'

'C'mon, everybody's taller than Mario.' With a look of fierce concentration on her face, she stretched up on her toes to place the golden star on the top of the tree. It was coated in a fine glitter that reflected the candlelight, creating thousands of tiny sparkles like real stars. 'And you're actually pretty tall - at least compared to him.'

'You just said that everyone's taller than Mario,' Luigi protested. 'So that doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment.' He accepted another decoration from Daisy with a murmur of thanks, and crouched down to hang it from a lower branch. 'I'll just do the reachable ones,' he added, and she grinned.

'See, this is why we're a good team, Weegee! I don't have to bend over, and you don't have to stand on a chair!'

'Yay...' he mumbled unenthusiastically, taking a silver star out of the cardboard box of decorations. After a bit of consideration, he decided to hang it on the highest branch that he could reach.

They continued 'Christmas-ifying' the tree for a while longer, and then Daisy suddenly blurted out, 'Hey, you're not... you know... self-conscious about your height, are you?'

'No!' he replied, too quickly to sound convincing. Daisy just gave him a hard stare, and he sighed and withdrew a shiny green bauble from the box. This one had a white letter 'L' painted on one side. All of the red baubles had the letter 'M' on them, predictably. It had been Mario's idea. 'I'm not exactly... self-conscious about it,' he said. 'But sometimes... I wish I was as tall as you. Or taller. It would be nice to be able to...' He flushed and snapped his mouth shut before that sentence could reach its conclusion.

'Would be nice to what, Weegee?' Daisy smirked, unable to stop the teasing note from creeping into her voice. She didn't want to upset him, but she also couldn't help thinking that this was a really stupid thing to talk about. She didn't care how tall he was. She never even brought it up because she knew Luigi might react this way.

'Nevermind,' he said, pretending to busy himself with adjusting a bauble.

'Luigi.'

'I'm not saying it,' he said, still flushed. 'You know what I was gonna say, anyway.'

'Yeah, I do,' she admitted. Luigi didn't answer, and she watched him quietly for a while, giving him the opportunity to speak up if he wanted to. As ridiculous as it might seem, Luigi was still every bit as nervous around her as he'd been when they first met. She'd given up hoping that he might get over his shyness someday, and accepted it as a part of who he was.

After the silence had dragged on for about a minute, she grinned and wrapped her arms around him, eliciting a squeak of surprise as she embraced him from behind. 'I don't care,' she said, pressing her nose against his cap as he stood there, frozen in the awkwardness of not knowing how to react. 'I think you're adorable just the way you are, and yeah, I'd still like you if you were taller, but I wouldn't change you for the world.' Cheesy, perhaps, but it was what she believed to be the truth.

'I-I was gonna say, i-it would be easier to... kiss you... if I was taller,' he stammered.

'Well, just imagine how much harder it must be for Mario and Peach,' she said, and Luigi made a faint noise of disgust, not particularly wanting to think about his brother doing such things with anyone. 'Honestly, I don't understand why your height bothers you when you spend so much time with Mario, and he's _way_ smaller. I dunno how he managed to beat Bowser so many times. Bowser's, what, seven feet tall?'

'Mario's a great fighter, though,' Luigi mumbled, and Daisy wasn't sure whether he was just being honest or trying to defend his brother's abilities. Not that she had doubted them for even a second.

Lifting one hand, she pulled the cap off of Luigi's head and placed it on her own, setting it at a jaunty angle. Unable to resist, she also planted a quick kiss on the top of his head before releasing him and stepping away. 'You're perfect just the way you are,' she repeated calmly, and then she went back to decorating the Christmas tree as if nothing had ever happened.

Still flushing, Luigi absorbed the sight of her wearing his cap, then smiled faintly and decided to follow suit. He seemed in a much better mood for the rest of the decorating session, humming along quietly to the Christmas songs on the radio, and when they were finished, they sat down together to excitedly discuss present ideas.

All in all, a rather nice way to spend a cold December evening.


End file.
